Guidelines for Writing Scientific Papers

1
Guidelines for Writing Scientific Papers

• 7th Grade
• Grovetown Middle School

2
Parts of a Scientific Paper

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Materials and Methods
• Results
• Tables and Figures
• Discussion (Conclusions)
• Citations
• References

3
Abstract

• One paragraph summary
• Answer the following questions
• What the experiment was about?
• How was the experiment done?
• What results were obtained?
• What was the importance of the results?
• It is easier to write this at the end of your
  paper.

4
Introduction

• Describe the question that you tested and your
  hypothesis
• Explain why this is an interesting or important
  experiment
• Describe the procedure for your experiment
• Briefly describe the conclusions
• This should be about 2-3 paragraphs

5
Materials and Methods

• Describe what was actually done in the experiment
• What materials did you use?
• What steps did you follow?
• What was your control?
• What was your variable?
• How did you control your variables?

6
Materials and Methods

• Describe your experimental design
• This should be paragraphs not a list of
  instructions
• Be sure to include why you did steps like you did
• Just use the important information, not all the
  tiny details

7
Results

• Begin with an opening sentence telling your
  experimental question
• Write about what happened in your experiment
• Summarize any data in text, not charts and graphs
  (that comes next)

8
Tables and Figures

• Present your information in an easy to read
  table, chart, graph etc.
• Figures are pictures of what you did that are
  drawn and labeled so people can see what you were
  talking about throughout the paper
• Tables should be numbered Table 1, Table 2,
  Table 3 etc.

9
Tables and Figures

• Figures should be numbered Figure 1, Figure 2
  etc
• Each figure and table should have a title and a
  caption telling what they are about
• Graphs should be included here too remember to
  have a title, labels on the axis and no
  abbreviations.

10
Discussion (Conclusions)

• Explain what this all means
• How did your results compare with your expected
  results?
• What further predictions can be made based on
  your data?
• Explain how your results supported or did not
  support your hypothesis

11
Discussion (Conclusions)

• How would you change your experiment to make it
  better?
• What new questions did this experiment make you
  think of?
• If you made mistakes in your experimental design,
  did you discuss them and how to fix it for next
  time.

12
Citations

• Information on the books you have quoted in your
  paper
• Includes author, title, publisher, date, pages etc

13
References

• List of all the books etc. that you used in your
  research and background information
• Includes author, title, publisher, place of
  publication, date etc.

14
Hints

• Write clearly and simply dont add extra and make
  it hard to understand
• Keep related topics together, dont go from one
  topic to another, then back to the first one
  again
• Use active voice tell what you did in an
  interesting way be sure not to use I and we
  all of the time
• Write positively The plants died or A period
  of heavy rain kept the plants from surviving.

15
Hints

• Delete unnecessary words due to the fact
  shorted to because
• Use metric measurements
• Only use common abbreviations, or explain what
  the abbreviation means
• Proofread your report.
• Have a friend proofread it.
• Have an adult proofread it
• Make sure it is the best you can do before
  turning it in